Before we start, I have to admit to a personal bias that may color this story: I’ve been a fan of Guy Pearce since first seeing him in 1997’s L.A. Confidential. So knowing that he’s been popping up on the 2024 movie schedule in movies like The Convert and The Brutalist has pleased my cinephile heart to no end.
However, after learning the story of how a random Warner Bros. executive allegedly blocked Pearce from ever working again with Christopher Nolan, I have to say my blood is a bit boiled. What’s more, I can double down on that anger, as the Australian actor’s recent interview with Vanity Fair also revealed that he came really close to playing a role in Batman Begins.
“But Mike,” you’re probably about to ask your screen, “surely a studio executive wouldn’t have it out for the man who starred in Memento?” Allow Guy Pearce himself to prove you wrong, courtesy of the following quote:
...there was an executive at Warner Bros. who quite openly said to my agent, “I don’t get Guy Pearce. I’m never going to get Guy Pearce. I’m never going to employ Guy Pearce.”
As you’d expect, and as the Prometheus actor admitted, this supposed “No Guy Pearce” sign on the WB gates meant that he was theoretically barred from quite a few movies. Theoretically, if true, this could explain how Warner Bros. passed on an L.A. Confidential sequel. As for reuniting Pearce with Christopher Nolan, the pair might have missed out on making anything Batman Begins to Tenet .
I don't know that for sure, as this unnamed exec may have left at some earlier point during that metaphorical exclusion period. Are you ready for the knife in this story to be twisted in a very special way? Guy Pearce’s proposed role in the 2005 Batman reboot was revealed in this same interview, and as the Iron Man 3 thespian admitted, that decision was made at a pretty late stage of the game:
Yes. They flew me to London, to discuss the Liam Neeson role for Batman, and I think it was decided on my flight that I wasn’t going to be in the movie. So I get there and Chris is like “hey, you want to see the Batmobile and get dinner?
I don’t know about you, but I’m a bit furious to hear this, especially since Pearce was on an airplane to take a meeting for the role! While Liam Neeson’s Henri Ducard/Ra's al Ghul was certainly a welcomed casting in Batman Begins, it still doesn’t change the fact that the exclusion of Guy Pearce from consideration was, to put it mildly, quite unfair. Though I suppose it all worked out in the end if you really think about it.
If Mr. Pearce had starred in that Christopher Nolan comic book hit, he may not have played Aldrich Killian in Shane Black’s Iron Man 3. Which might have also seen the actor unavailable to star in his entry on the Alien movie timeline, Prometheus, as he’d have had to reappear in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises.
If there’s any sort of silver lining to this horrible story, it’s the fact that it’s perhaps one of the best things to come out of Christopher Nolan’s 2021 breakup with Warner Bros. Guy Pearce acknowledged that himself in this interview, closing the entire affair with the sentiment that maybe it’s time for him and his Memento director to reunite.
As luck would have it, Christopher Nolan’s next movie is gearing up to shoot early next year - and considering how large his casts can get, I’m sure there’s room to get the band back together. For now though, you can catch Guy Pearce and Christopher Nolan's sole film together, Memento, for free on Pluto TV and Tubi.
